Darkvision - Bruce R. Cordell [98]
Iahn squinted slightly, the only outward sign of his consternation. Ususi had broken the law of the Great Seal again by speaking of Deep Imaskar to those who did not dwell there. He hoped he would not bear the burden of imposing discipline on her.
"And," added Zel, "If we survive this, those of us untainted by Shaddon's folly will raise her to the status of family saint, and put her likeness in stone in our hall." Zel squeezed Warian's shoulder again, and the young man bent down to tie Eined's blue sash around her wrapped wrist.
With a gesture from Ususi, the body slid toward the edge of the path. Instead of dropping, it drifted gently into the dark. Iahn noted that the wizard had the keystone clutched in one hand. Ususi's mastery of the Nadir uplifted the wrapped body.
The white form slowly receded. As Eined dwindled, she flared with illumination, taking on the same glow as all the other objects that drifted within the artificial space. The body receeded, growing smaller and smaller, until Eined's light was indistinguishable from the other motes that wafted through the darkness.
She was gone.
With a subtle swing of her head, Ususi gestured Iahn to follow, and they walked a few paces down the stone path. Warian and Zel remained together, gazing into the dark.
The vengeance taker said in a low voice, "A good sendoff."
Ususi said, "Thanks. That was one of the harder things I've had to do." She rubbed her lower lip. Then, "Let's give them a few more moments. Besides, I want to tell you something."
He cocked his head, disliking drama.
"Iahn, I know you want me to create some route that'll connect us immediately to Deep Imaskar. But listen. The source of the attack on our city is close. And unless I miss my guess, it comes from…" the wizard pointed down the path that was blocked by a shimmering screen, blurring the image of an incredibly tall fortress tower, "… there.
"That fantastic structure, my friend," explained Ususi, "exactly matches a painting hanging in the audience chamber of the lord apprehender."
"I've seen that painting. What is it?"
"The Purple Palace. The ancient seat of the Imaskari Empire."
Iahn blinked. "Incredible."
"A paragon of understatement. Do they train you for such subtlety?" asked Ususi. "Apparently, the entire palace was stored in the Celestial Nadir before the end of the empire. The records in Deep Imaskar assume that the palace remained in the world, buried below the shifting sands of Raurin. Turns out, it's been here all along."
"It does not quite look 'here,' though," commented the vengeance taker.
Ususi's brow furrowed, and she gazed at the structure through the keystone.
Still gazing through the translucent stone, she said, "You're right. It's not. How strange!"
"What?"
"It has slipped into our world! It has returned…" Ususi continued to observe the structure through the lens of her keystone, apparently learning additional information through its tiny aperture, "… can it be? Yes! It has found its original foundation. But it retains a tenuous link with the Celestial Nadir. The link is Pandorym's influence. Its psyche is entangled with something still here."
"Let me take a stab-is it entangled with that?" Iahn pointed down the path to the great misshapen boulder.
"Difficult to say."
"Then let's find out." The vengeance taker gripped his dragonfly blade, wondering what sort of violence he could bring to bear on such a large rock. Ususi followed him. She said, "Whatever the link, Pandorym remains rooted in the palace. Which makes sense. Some of the creatures it threw at us, like the shadow eft, are remnants of a race that now exists only in the Imperial Weapons Cache. Pandorym must have released and subverted them to its own power. I wonder what else it's released."
Iahn nodded as he studied the great rock, more concerned with it than Ususi's musing for the moment.
The vengeance taker looked to the wizard and saw she was standing some paces back, inspecting the boulder through her keystone. After a few moments, he